From Good Reads:Set in Alaska in 2040, Melissa Marn and Bruce Wilder must work under the iron fist of the SCM, while still trying to maintain humanity. Discovering a world of shifters and hybrids, the scientists must struggle with human prejudice and betrayal. With the original ancestors, dubbed shifters, still living on earth, humans are in the midst of a fifteen year old war. As the eldest hybrids, Unseen and Diamond, learn about humans the hard way, with the loss of loved ones and sacrifices, love on planet earth proves challenging.

My Review:
Ami Blackwelder has created a rich and enthralling world in THE SHIFTERS OF 2040. Also, a deadly and frightening one for the alien race of shifters that had come to the planet Earth in 2020. Her novel explores deeper themes of the human spirit and what we are capable of, when we allow total fear and prejudice to control our actions.

There are a multitude of characters in which the reader is allowed to experience their life and point of view. Though it might seem disorienting to switch from character to character for some readers, I liked the affect. Blackwelder has chosen her characters, so that each kind of "player" in her field gets a chance to influence the reader. From the scientist that feels that her experimentation is the only way to combat the "shifter" invasion, to the military general whose rhetoric and power comes close to despotic, to the shifters themselves that don't seem as dangerous as the humans believe them to be.

I would point out that this novel is heavy on the science. In fact, some of the experimentation that the doctors are doing, as well as the shifter DNA dynamics are so well discussed that I could only guess at the research that was done by the author. This did not put me off in any way. I enjoy reading science-fiction, and the world shown in THE SHIFTERS OF 2040 is very like the one we live in, so much so, that it seems all the more frightening for the possible reality that it portrays. This is the perfect novel for someone who enjoys a detailed look into the human reaction and offensive toward a species that did nothing more than come to our planet.

I'm a writer, aspiring to that higher plane of becoming a published author. I love books in all their forms, be it electronic or print (though obviously, there is nothing like the texture of a book in my hands!). I want to share that love and meet others who feel the same.